How Optimizing My Ugly Google+ Pic Increased Free Traffic&nbsp35%

The author's views are entirely his or her own (excluding the unlikely event of hypnosis) and may not always reflect the views of Moz.

The following topic was presented at MozCon 2012.

Over the years, SEOs have employed many techniques to control how their site appears in search results. These included:

Writing compelling Title Tags 65-75 characters long

Descriptive Meta Descriptions

Use of NOODP and NOYDIR meta tags

Keyword rich URLs

By controlling how our snippets appear in search results, we could greatly improve our click-through rates and the amount of free traffic we saw.

But times are changing. For better or worse, Google has now stepped up its title tag rewriting algorithm so that webmasters can no longer predict how their title tags will display. This major bummer that is only compensated by the fact that Google has given us something much better in the form of rich snippets.

In particular, Google+ gave us author profile photos.

This was a huge win. Or so we thought.

After seeing other authors earn the coveted profile pic in Google's search results, I worked for months trying to get my photo to show up. After navigating Google's often confusing markup instructions, my photo finally appeared in search results.

Imagine my disappointment when my traffic stayed flat. I wasn't alone. We even heard stories from webmasters who saw their traffic drop after implementing the author profile markup.

Being lazy, I hadn't considered the actual photo used for the snippet. Unfortunately, I'm not blessed with photogenic looks, especially when the camera is a webcam at 8:30 in the morning.

Time to face facts: my photo was ugly. At the very least, it didn't inspire clicks.

For your author photo, Google pulls the picture directly from your G+ profile, which is easy to change. As an SEO, I thought, "Why don't I test this?"

I dug out better photos and asked a professional photographer/friend to capture me in a more flattering light.

I experimented with different colors and backgrounds. I changed the amount of whitespace visible around my head. I tried glasses and no glasses. (If I owned a wig I would have tested myself with more hair.)

You Could Say I Got a Little Obsessive...

A little Photoshop experience is a dangerous thing.

Yet over time, as I tuned it in, the results started to show a definite improvement in click-through rates.

Use Google Analytics to Track Results

In the Search Engine Optimization report in Google Analytics, you can track click-through rates for all of your impressions in Google's search results. Simply select CTR from the site usage drop-down. You can even use the "Compare to past" feature to compare 2 date ranges.

A word of caution: this is not a scientific experiment. Many factors influence click-through rates, especially rankings. The higher up you are, the more clicks you generally receive. Pay particular attention to the "Average Position" number in the Google Analytics SEO report. With all other things being equal, a change in CTR can easily be attributed to a corresponding change in your profile pic.

The final number settled down around a 35% increase in click-through rate. That's 35% more traffic from Google than what I received before, and it was all free. Imagine how long it would take to gain the same momentum through manual link building.

Another side effect: my engagement metrics improved. Bounce rate dropped while time-on-site and page views increased. It's as if having an authoritative photo in the search results raised users' trust in my site and expectations of authority.

As for offensive photos, there was an issue awhile back with MG Siegler giving G the middle finger, but that's the only instance I know where Google cracked down.

Formula for a Perfect Picture

Is there a magic formula for author profiles? No. You might be tempted to think that changing your background to yellow or red might be the answer, but the right photo depends much more on your audience and content. An author photo for content aimed at a 13-year-old Justin Bieber fan is not the same photo that will perform well with content aimed at retirees searching for tax advice.

When you change your Google+ profile pic, Google displays your new photo very quickly. This makes it easy to run many tests in the course of a couple months. A few final tips include:

Write killer content

Implement Authorship Markup

Put your best face forward

If you manage a site with multiple authors, consider hiring a professional photographer to come in for a team day. Distilled does a great job creating visually attractive, stand-out photos.

Here's something a little negative to throw into the mix. Having an avatar can sometimes be better than a real pic. I found my REAL photo a real problem when applying for jobs, or used on Linked in. People just didn't click on my profile.

I don't look like Quazi modo or anything but ethnicity can play a part in peoples sub-conscious choices.

I changes the image for a while and the clicks started appearing.

I decided that Once gainfully employed again I'd re-add my photo. It's gone Quiet again. Make of it what you will.

Yeah, this is one reason I don't like this rich snippet, especially bc Google asks for "a clear headshot" [boom!]. I get the idea, but I think it just doesn't work out for some people and anyone can use a false photo anyway.

Off-topic - I really wish we could use some Harry-Potter-esque cinemagraphs. Wouldn't solve any of these problems, just think it would be cool.

Thanks for sharing that insight. As Google+ evolves, SEO is only set to change further. Hopefully for the better but I am sure it is only going to make it easier for adept content writers and worse for link builders...

Thanks Cyrus for the informative article. The picture really matters much. I also wanted to add that it's also important to use one and the same profile picture EVERYWHERE, in all social profiles, forums, etc. in order to build strong personal branding.

Great point Tianna. As I was reading down the comments, I was thinking the same thing though I am currently only about 80% compliant personally. That is probably why Rand uses that same photo for as long as I have been following him. A profile photo becomes a bridge between different social channels. I suspect that a lift in the CTR for many audiences, especially in our industry, has to do with whether or not a user recognizes a profile photo in the SERPs. Most will forget names but always, always, always remember a face :)

Great test Cyrus! I heard all about it when our guys came back from Mozcon.

I've also done some tests with this, although not as intense as your own. I've tested click thru rate when displaying an image of a man vs an attractive woman. 9 out of 10 times the woman slaughtered the man and brought more traffic.

Ha! I was just now going to Twitter to remind myself to write about this and saw SEOmoz's tweet about your article.

I have a case where we just recently added authorship to a site and the hits have dropped off pretty dramatically. I'm going to give it a little more time to verify it's a trend, but I will say that the photo would not have been my first pick.

I know that in my own personal searching I will skip a result, depending on my search, with a photo that sends me the wrong message.

Thanks for sharing Cyrus - what an interesting experiment. I must admit I've been slow to implement the author profile pics (like you say, mark up instructions are a little complicated!), but a 35% increase in CTR is definitely motivation to persevere.

This makes perfect sense to me. I think most people experience a lift when they put in better pictures. Thanks for tip/observation. As far as the background, yes, it depends on the audience, that is why you test it, even with not applying statistical significance.

if you have a author picture in the serps (real head) and you change it to a logo. It works..... for a while.

About 7 to 10 days, google reindexed my pages and the reindexed pages the logo (instead of my head) disappeared in the SERPs. I had to change my logo back to my picture and after about 2 weeks i was back in the SERPS.

Google does warn you if you upload a logo: This appears not to be a person, are you sure you want this?

I would never add a "vacation" photo or the likes to profiles that I use online in connection to work or anything professional, because the photo is a part of the necessary branding one has to think about when selecting any content on a profile or a website, for that matter.

I think you're overlooking the fact that attractiveness can lead to authority. For example, there have been some psychological studies that determined that attractiveness can have a 'halo effect', in which more attractive individuals are thought to be more socially competent and intelligent when compared to less attractive individuals.

It's also worth pointing out simply doing isn't always enough - perceived authority matters quite a bit. There was another study in which papers written by authors from prestigious institutions that were previously published in top journals were resubmitted with the authors' names and institutions changed to make them sound non-prestigious. Eight of nine articles were rejected. (hat tip for these 2 examples goes to http://www.buzzstream.com/blog/improving-link-building-response-rates-with-persuasive-psychology.html - worth checking out)

As this test showed, certainly the photo you choose can and does have have an impact on click through rate. Cyrus mentioned that the test-winning photo improved his engagement metrics as well, then hypothesized "It's as if having an authoritative photo in the search results raised users' trust in my site and expectations of authority." There is a benefit to be gained from putting your best foot forward.

Now as far Sheldon vs. Penny, the answer really comes down to Cyrus' point: "the right photo depends much more on your audience and content." I would not click on Sheldon's picture when searching for men's fashion : )

So many choices, Glasses, no glasses, background colors, or fun outdoor photo. what to wear. Important thing to also remember is to update the photo. Many people never update their photo and it is not what they look like when eventually meeting clients. Not a good thing.

Also, the majority of Twitter spammers.Good thing getting an Author pic in search results actually requires a bit of work and not just anyone can/will appear. That might be too much work for spammers who probably won't achieve high rankings anyway, especially when they can just use automation to spam Twitter.

Fantastic case study, Cyrus. I laughed when I saw the "...a Little Obsessive" heading. Mmmaybe just a little... ;-)

I remember having a hassle trying to implement it on my site, too (that said, I have a hassle trying to implement anything using Google's own instructions)! As soon as it was setup and working, I guess I kind of forgot about it, insofar as I thought "hey, that's sorted now, onto the next thing." 'Optimising' the image hadn't even really occurred to me, so good spot and good work in sharing with us your findings.

I'm just glad I didn't use my passport photo - I would get ZERO clicks!

I think the value of the photo is that it gives searchers a human connection to latch onto. People want to do business with other people, and having a photo lets them know you are a honest-to-god person, someone they could recognize down the street. It creates a new layer of trust.

That hits the nail on the head for me Nick and that's why I acted straightaway to get authorship status. Overcoming the barrier of trust is one of the biggest hurdles to clear. It's not so much about what you look like but that you're prepared to show yourself and be open.

When I visit a website's about us page and find they're not prepared to reveal who's behind the business, I usually lose interest pretty quickly. We're all social animals to a greater or lesser extent. You can't necessarily trust those that are open but at least you have a human connection which is a good starting point for engagement.

Great post, I did also see a question in the comments regarding the setup of a google authorship account. I would also like to second that request, I'm sure I could find some instructions but the wording is key to understanding. I was hoping for a more easy to understand instructional. Any ideas? My second question is how do bloggers feel about using social media monitoring tools for the purpose of directing relevant traffic to their page with the aid of internet tools? I've been trying to research the best ones and was wondering if anyone had insight to My Viral Web or any other one? I've seen some article son Hubspot but it seems like it's too expensive for what you get. Help?Thanks,S

Great post Cyrus. One things I've noticed about a lot of posts that uses Google Authorship: The headlines are phrases that you'd speak in conversation.

I run a site where it doesn't make sense to have the page titles be pages. People are looking for specific information, and titles provide terms that let them distinguish one page from another. Here's an example:

Those phrases all make sense to people in my niche. My question is, will authorship photos help as much when my titles are not phrases I might speak out loud? I've noticed posts like yours feel very "friendly" in SERP results, they answer my question. Some of my blog posts will be like that, but many pages on my site have titles that are pure classification. What do you (or anyone) think?

Funny and helpful post. We are starting to use Authorship for our clients now. The picture definitely draws the users eyes on the results page. I've found myself clicking on results with Google Authorship even though they make rank lower than others.

I have been using this. Your post content reflects to what I had in my mind (Kudos!) and have practiced a lot. You can see my branding by searching for "Mitesh Sanghvi" in Google. A smiling face will welcome you!

nice post, its what i've always thought and it's the same with twitter and facebook.

for instance a smiling face can help make someone trust you, a bright red background can mean stop warning etc ... having the background out of focus and a person close to the camera and smiling can really help. Remember it's about trust. and an image box in a search can mean more clicks, but it's trust - they trust and image they are more likely to trust your website

That's a great article there Cyrus, your post title really got me hooked to read this. And it was a great light read, light because thankfully it did not involve lot of technicalities like some other articles ;-)

Have to say I agree with your findings. 1st thing is having a author pic, and once its there smartening it up is equally important, I too have noticed immense change in traffic with the picture. Haven't done as much experiment with the pic as you, but you certainly got me intrigued to try it myself :-)

I have notice this profile picture in your facebook profile. You look like a scientist in this picture. I think, I have to also test it out, mine profile picture looks little dark but I am not that much....

Fantastic post. Really appreciate the tip on using a picture to gain the viewers trust. I've actually seen this one other time being used by a Private Investigation Agency, the owners of the company ran a blog on Insurance Fraud etc, always had their picture blown up to the side.. Now it all makes a little sense, worth giving it a try!

In addition to killer content, images or photo also deserve some importance as far as attracting web traffic is concerned. You feel really great when your photo shows up in Google search results. I agree with the benefits of Google+ which is taking over shares of Facebook and Twitter.

Wow Cyrus, these are some awesome tips that I've never thought of. A/B testing Google+ profile photos? It's such a no brainer.

Recently we got one of our clients to create a Google+ account so his photo could start showing up in search results. The photo has been showing in results for a few weeks now but haven't seen any significant traffic increases. I think some photo A/B tests are in order!

Thinking about it now, his photo has a white background which would blend right in with Google's results pages. Definitely need to start experimenting with some different background colours.

Wow, I just took a look at the "Queries" report in the Search Engine Optimization section for our client and compared it to the past when we didn't have Google+ authorship. CTR has dropped by 30%!!!!!!!!! arghhh

Average position has also slightly dropped by 4.24% as well so that will have some impact but 30%!!!

No one else in our client's industry shows up with Google+ authorship so I thought for sure it would be a positive effect. Definitely time to start testing some different background colours.

Interesting! Blogger's picture in front of his blog in Google search engine increase his trust factor also among users/reader. I am running an SEO blog and I also saw an increase in CTR for my blog after Authorship Markup.

Some great insights! Like you it took me ages for me to get my pic to display in the SERPS for my blog and when it did, my traffic dropped by 15-20%.

I didn't think it could be my profile pic (which was a pretty poorly taken B&W photo) but then I changed to an Julien Opie style Avatar a couple of weeks ago and lo and behold, my restored to the same levels.. just checked CTR and this is up 25% as well.

I know correlation <> causation and all that, but it does seem to a suggest profile pic can have a pretty big impact!Now I'm inspired to throw more variables in the mix - giving my Avatar smarter clothes or spectacles perhaps, or trying out a more professional photo

Hey Cyrus! What an amazing post and two days from now I
actually have an appointment with my photographer who will try to come up with
new pictures of me...

I like the idea of using single colour dark backgrounds like
Rand uses or Distilled people are doing great in that case...

People might not tell but if you have a picture like I
currently have on Google+ and twitter they might not take you serious and
bounce because it looks like a 19 year old kid (Although i am not too Old
anyways but still not a kid anymore.)

I think having an optimized image will allow people to take
you more serious which results to a better CTR (keeping all other aspects of increasing
CTR in mind.)